


two of spades

by xShieru



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Card Games, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, vector doesn't know how human games work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 09:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xShieru/pseuds/xShieru
Summary: A few weeks into his mission, Vector notices that they actually have hobbies that do not involve dueling.





	two of spades

**Author's Note:**

> i fever-dreamt this  
> whoops  
> un-beta'd coz it's 5 am and my dudes have an exam tomorrow.

A few weeks into his mission, Vector notices that they actually have hobbies that do not involve dueling. Surprising as it is, the simpletons that are human teenagers manage to occupy themselves with stuff that doesn’t necessarily involve AR spaces and violent shocks of electricity – something that's pretty much a given and accepted as an unquestionable lifestyle within the borders of the ever-bustling Heartland city.

The class' president – the guy's name often escapes Vector’s memory nor does he really _care_ about the other because he’s completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, besides, he’s certain that half of Yuuma’s friends forget the blue-haired boy’s name as well – brings out a pack of simple playing cards, warns them not to do _anything_ with them within the school building – gambling is considered illegal even if they aren’t doing anything quite like it. A deck of poker cards is more than enough to warrant the teachers’ suspicion which leads to inevitable expulsion.

Vector makes a mental note not to touch it unless necessary. He cannot risk his spot here, by Yuuma’s side. His plan must be flawless and carried out with utmost perfection. He _is_ a bit of an excessive control freak. _A perfectionist._

The kid shuffles the deck and hands out the cards in twos, going thrice until their hand is at six. Vector returns his with the pretense of sucking at card games – he really doesn’t know how this game in particular works nor is he interested in passing the lunch break _calmly._

Shit needs to be stirred and he already has an idea or two.

Yuuma winces at the hand he’s been dealt and continues shoveling rice into his mouth like a damned uncultured mongrel that he is.

Shingetsu Rei slaps on his best smile and sidles up to _darling Yuuma-kun_ , peeking over the boy’s strong shoulder to inspect the unfamiliar symbols and numbers. “Can I watch you play, Yuuma-kun? Perhaps I’ll learn how to do it.”

“I’m not particularly good at it, though,” the kid laughs sheepishly and scratches at the back of his head. The game starts and Vector frowns at the weird turns and passes. Bizarre, meaningless human games. So _simplistic._ Yuuma throws a low-level card with red diamonds depicted on its sides. “I mean, granny did try to teach me how to play “The Wheel” and “Thousand”, but those involved math so – “

The girl – Kotori, Vector remembers, she’s important to Yuuma and he has no doubt in his mind that they’ll be seeing each other again even after this farce is over; there’s no way she’d abandon the guy she harbors very much romantic feelings for – snorts and easily fights off Yuuma’s offense. “Yuuma would get so flustered whenever he lost at “Thousand”. He just wouldn’t understand how twelve plus four worked.”

“Which is why I don’t play that lame-ass game anymore!” he exclaims with a mean flash of tongue and throws another card. A mistake, because at least six more cards fly in his general direction and Yuuma sweeps them up with bent palms, puts them in his hand. “See? They always do that.”

“Not our fault that you kinda suck, Yuuma,” the big kid in the hat laughs as Kotori throws him a few hearts.

Yuuma looks over his shoulder. Vector blinks at the sudden proximity, their noses nearly brushing. The kid’s pink-hued eyes flicker to the countless freckles peppering _Shingetsu's_ pale skin. “Which is why you’d be better off looking at Kotori’s cards. She’s the best out of us.”

“I’m a little surprised myself,” Kotori hums. She seems to be counting something in her head. “You guys are the renowned duelists here but you have little to no memory when it comes to card relays.”

“It’s fine like this,” Vector chirps, tone high-pitched. “I think I like watching Yuuma-kun play cards the best, after all!”

“You’re embarrassing,” Yuuma ducks his head. His ears are turning red.

The kids snicker.

With an air of faux innocence, Vector leans over Yuuma’s shoulder even further, breath ghosting over a heated ear. “What does this one do?” he points at the odd card that hadn’t been thrown by anyone yet – and yes, he did peek at the green-haired girl’s cards, only to find out that she didn’t have anything quite like it.

“It’s… I can’t tell! We’re in a middle of the game,” Yuuma lamely stutters as his friends suddenly look at each other and simultaneously exclaim “he’s got a Joker.”

Yuuma yells out a frustrated _“this is why I don’t like this game and others watching my hand, they always tell!”_ and Vector happily watches their little “fun time” dissolving within a matter of seconds – mission accomplished.

He ignores the squabbling teens and swipes out the card that Yuuma had dropped along with the rest. It depicts a grinning man holding two masks, one sad and one exaggeratedly happy. He’s got a pair of winding horns protruding from his head and a sharp tail.

Vector decides that he likes this one.

* * *

 

The human world offers an easy access to information and comfortable places to perch on – places he’d never fit in if he were in his original form, wings and all. He creeps around the neighborhood, climbs high places to look at the humans bustling in the streets below, lazes around and checks for explanations regarding the poker cards.

If Yuuma and Astral are the King and the Ace in his grand scheme, then Vector is the Joker – _the wild card, the unpredictability._

The two-faced entertainer.

He cannot wait to see the suffering on Yuuma’s face and the betrayal in his pink-hued eyes. Pretty little things, always sparkling with life, blind trust. Friendship and other positive bullshit that Vector despises. They’re wide and innocent, crowned with those stupidly long eyelashes. Vector _hates_ them.

It’s a good thing that he doesn’t like sparkly shit.

* * *

 

There are other uses to poker cards. Yuuma, the utter buffoon, tries to build a tower on the most slippery surface imaginable and he actually has it in him to look _upset_ whenever his masterpiece crumbles apart.

Out of sight, the gremlin with green-rimmed glasses tries to cheat people out of their money.

(He approaches Shingetsu as well, but he politely declines and inwardly wonders at what angle he should twist the brat’s neck for it to cleanly break into two.)

During the lunch break, they’re visited by the Kamishiro siblings – more like the girl had dragged a grumpy Shark along for “quality bonding”.

When she sees the cards, instead of offering some random game Vector’s already accustomed to – and even tried playing just to satisfy his growing curiosity, only to feel disappointed afterwards – she says something about “Pass the Card” and about how there’s enough people to form two teams.

Vector has no fucking idea what the hell they’re on about, but judging by the collective indignant reactions, it’s something very scandalous.

He’s almost intrigued.

“I’m out,” Shark says before Rio can finish the sentence, hands raised up. He attempts to walk out on them, but gets reeled back inside by the collar.

“We need a judge.”

“You want me to watch you people suck face for the sake of competition?” he questions, disgusted.

(Vector is no longer intrigued. Yuuma looks like he’s about to pop something.)

“You don’t have to put it so crudely, you know!” Rio puffs out her cheeks and they bicker some more until Shark simply gets fed up with it and agrees to this “nonsense party” only if Rio duels him after school. She waves him off.

Something worth looking into, at least.

Shark closes his eyes and crosses his arms while Rio looks over their small ensemble. Faking confusion – not really, seeing as he truly doesn’t know what the fuck’s going on but the rest clearly expect him to know of this “passing card” custom – he notices that the two girls of their group are eyeing Yuuma with sort of desperate, hopeless stares. Kind of _gross._

Yuuma shoots him a shy look.

Shingetsu shrugs.

“We’re already sitting like this, so let’s just split up in this exact way!” Rio cheerfully exclaims.

The girls no longer look needy.

Kotori looks at the cat girl sitting to her left. They both blush and look away from each other simultaneously. “Absolutely not! Why do I have to be next to her!?”

“It’s _nyot_ fair!” The gray-haired girl stomps her feet, clearly upset. “At least make the teams balanced! That side is only boys!”

The gremlin raises a hand “Uh, and me, or not!” He still looks pretty damn pleased with this predicament, being the only guy on the ‘girl team’ and all.

“Is there a problem with you passing the cards to me, Kotori?” Rio blinks at the girl who calms immediately, a bit pink in the face. Barely audible, she mutters a flustered “no”.

“There’s a problem with me, though!” the big guy roars. “Kinda imbalanced, don’t ya think!?”

“Yes, yes, my thoughts exactly!” the class’ president passionately agrees. He sits on Shingetsu’s right side whereas Yuuma – who is uncharacteristically silent and doesn’t question this supposedly unfair arrangement whatsoever – sits pressed into his left, bare skin touching.

There’s that familiar, disgusting blush on the boy’s cheeks. Vector throws up in his mouth a little.

Their argument dies down when Rio asks for “the judge’s” opinion and he replies with “yeah, whatever, can we get this over and done with?”

And so they sit – Todoroki, Shingetsu, Yuuma and Tetsuo on one side with Tokonosuke, Cathy, Kotori and Rio on the other.

Shark shuffles the deck, cuts it in half. Gives the halves to Todoroki and Tokonosuke. “You know the rules. No touching. Suck that shit in and make it fast. The one with the most cards on the other end wins.

Vector blinks in confusion, uncertain as to how proceed when Shark says a bored “go”, and the blue-haired kid slaps a card to his mouth, holding it in place with the suction of lips.

_What. The. Fuck._

He makes an urging sound in the back of his throat, eyebrows knit and card wavering. From the corner of his eye, Vector spots Tokonosuke doing the exact same thing and Cathy reluctantly, yet determinedly, sucks in the card from the other side, carefully taking it and turning to Kotori, waiting for her to do the same.

Oh.

_Gross._

Vector tries not to think about the spit and the possibility of the card slipping out – he doesn’t exactly have a mouth in his original form, how the fuck’s this supposed to work – and oh, he somehow manages.

The card feels as if it’s going to slip off at any moment. Slowly, he turns to the side. The big guy urges him to hurry; Rio’s already placing the other team’s first card down on the table.

Yuuma’s stupid doe eyes greet Vector’s violet ones and he nearly drops the stupid piece of cardboard.

Oh. Oh no.

Yuuma tilts his head to the side to get a better access to the crooked card. Vector’s eyes widen when their noses bump awkwardly.

Yuuma smiles against his lips - he can feel it even through the barrier.

And then it’s gone.

Their first card falls to the ground when Tetsuo fumbles against Yuuma’s mouth – “ew dude, drool less”.

The next five turns pass so fast that Vector’s no longer keeping track of their successful attempts – Yuuma’s… kisses make his mind buzz with static. This isn’t what he’d signed up for when he wished for drama and world domination. He didn’t sign up for this kid kissing him through a fucking playing card.

(Tetsuo: 2, Rio: 5)

They somehow gain pace on seventh turn, only because the card between Cathy and Kotori flutters to the ground when Kotori moves in to take it and their lips wetly mesh together, sticking with the remains of cheap, scented chapstick. They jump apart, groaning in disgust and rubbing at their mouths, furiously ignoring Tokonosuke with a new card between his lips.

Vector comes up with a brand new, admittedly stupid plan.

He quickly takes the offered card and when he turns to Yuuma, he waits for the kid to move in, waits for the fluttering of eyelashes and the brush of a nose, and then he pushes out the card with the tip of his tongue in a supposedly natural way.

He gets warm lips in return.

It’s fucking _great._

Yuuma doesn’t jump back as fast as the girls had, almost as if he’s savoring this. Enjoying Shingetsu Rei’s lips on his. Enjoying Vector’s insistent press.

Oh the _joy_ it brings him, the type of joy that only comes from fucking with Yuuma’s emotions. Wherever he goes, Vector wants Yuuma to follow – blindly, without question. Magnet to metal.

It lasts for a second at most, but it’s moist, hot, _real_ and no amount of squealing can deny its realness any more.

Yuuma’s hand is resting on his mouth, face flaming.

(Vector notices that he doesn’t actually rub off the lingering sensation, only makes it seem that way.)

“Sorry…” Shingetsu whispers in his most smitten, winded voice, and smiles when he sees Yuuma’s internal struggle.

“It’s okay.”

The blue kid looks far less… thrilled by this game now that he’s discovered the possibility of an actual kiss happening between two guys. Vector snatches the card with a hard, cold look in his eyes, and then faces his darling Yuuma-kun again, batting his eyelashes innocently.

Yuuma moves in closer.

* * *

 

Team Rio leaves them in dust. They’d only scored two kisses – one between Kotori and Cathy, and one between Kotori and Rio (the latter lasting a bit longer).

Team Tetsuo? Four kisses between Yuuma and Shingetsu.

Shingetsu blames it on the moisture, _bad luck_ with cards and inexperience.

(Vector holds onto the card of their first kiss – two of spades. When the blue-haired kid counts the cards and spots a missing two, Shingetsu pretends that he hasn’t seen it.)

* * *

 

Yuuma’s flustered around him. _Good._

They leave the school together, unusually quiet. Nor do they touch the entire way to Yuuma’s – Shingetsu always walks his classmate home like a good, reliable friend.

Somehow this change bothers Vector, but the bigger part of him is _gloating_ at Yuuma’s inner conflict. At the averted gaze and the flushed ears. The pink cheeks.

When they’re about to cross the bridge, he catches Yuuma by the wrist and turns the boy to face him.

Yuuma’s eyes blaze in the colors of the sunset, sparkling in yellows and oranges and Vector closes his eyes so that he doesn’t see them. He presses into Yuuma’s mouth as if searching for something, trying to gouge the other’s feelings without any communication. Yuuma’s mouth is slack, shy, _and he can’t have that._

He roughly grabs the kid’s face with his free hand and then slowly tries to coax it into relaxation, into action. Licks at the seam of his chapped lips.

Yuuma shivers then, full-body.

Vector bites at Yuuma’s lower lip just for the hell of it. It’s gratifying.

The latter's mouth is red-hued as well when they disconnect. Vector focuses on the mark that he’d left behind rather than those questioning, sparkling depths. He feels like if he looks into Yuuma’s eyes for long enough, he might actually drown in them or something. And swimming out of that mess will be incredibly hard.

He hates Yuuma’s eyes. The determination, the trust.

The subtle _love._

“Returning that last… _turn_ to you,” Shingetsu says, grinning brightly. His free hand thumbs at Yuuma’s heated cheek.

The kid gapes, stunned speechless, breathless. Tries to meet those deceptive violet eyes but fails.

Vector walks away then, leaves Yuuma behind to his own devices. He’s not gonna stay there for the _feelings_ , he wants the kid to be confused, lost. Wants him to fall deeper, fall in _love_ with the lie that he spins – Shingetsu Rei.

Yuuma lets him leave, lost in his own thoughts and hormone-fueled feelings.

* * *

 

Vector decides that he’s gonna keep the card.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Two of spades: separation, deceit. Difficult changes


End file.
